il
dwellings were deserted, and the land lay utterly waste. Of the Adelaide
traders, scarcely a house escaped insolvency, and the loss was total.
Those who remained turned their land to account: their flocks increased,
and the discovery of the mines happily realised more than their early
hopes. The lands sold by the company were freed from the mineral
reservation.

An old gentleman, named Menge, formerly an attendant on a distinguished
German geologist, was the discoverer of its mineral riches. He was
employed by Mr. George F. Angus to select his special surveys. His
occasional choice of rocks and barren soil excited ridicule and
astonishment; but he was accustomed to say, "the wealth is below, not
upon the ground." He lived in the cleft of a rock at the junction of the
Gawler and Para, near a plot of forty acres, almost surrounded with
water, where he cultivated melons of every variety. He spoke many
languages, and had travelled through Germany, Switzerland, and Iceland.
A mineral collection he made, is in the University Museum, Edinburgh.
His excursions in South Australia were intrepid, and extended far: he
carried a wallet and a hammer, and subsisted during his wandering on
gum. His conversation was visionary; and his predictions, at the time,
but little regarded.

The coast of New Holland, opposite to Van Diemen's Land, was almost
neglected since the removal of the colony in 1803. Various reports were
brought by whalers of its suitableness for sheep farming. Howell, Hume,
and Batman had explored the country in 1824, and had acquired some
knowledge of its quality. In 1827, an application was made by Messrs. J.
T. Gellibrand and Batman to General Darling, for permission to land
stock, to the amount of L5,000, in the neighbourhood of Western Port.
This project failed; but in 1835, Mr. Batman, called the Australian
Penn, acting for certain colonists, of whom a nephew of Arthur was one,
proceeded to Port Phillip. Several Sydney blacks, under his care, had
acquired the English language, and accompanied him thither. This
important expedition embarked in a colonial vessel, and landed on the
26th May, on the shore of Port Phillip. The civilised blacks were now
decked with native ornaments, and advanced towards the fires of the
aborigines; but they had fled. They were, however, tracked by Batman's
company, who opened a friendly conference, and were perfectly
understood. The natives displayed some apprehension, and intimated